It is necessary to move various ore and mineral solids to and from vessels or containers in which such solids are stored and/or transported. In some instances, the storage and/or transport vessel may be the hold of a ship, barge or other carrier and in other instances, it may be a storage vessel forming part of a shore installation slurry system. Also, it may be an intermediate storage system at the beginning, an intermediate point, or the termination of a trunk or branch slurry pipeline. It has been found possible to pump a slurry of solids into such a storage vessel after which the solids are permitted to settle by gravity leaving an overlying fraction of liquid. The liquid fraction is then removed by decantation to leave a settled mass of solids. If the storage vessel is the hold of a ship or barge, normal movement of the ship or barge and vibration of its machinery causes compaction of the settled solids so that, at destination, the compacted mass of settled solids is difficult to remove. It does not flow and strongly resists being reslurried since it becomes a very cohesive solid with considerable structural strength and high resistance to flow. Similar difficulties arise in shore based installations and make it difficult to reslurry a settled, compacted slurry from storage tanks.
Prior art considered relevant to the present invention includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,690,730; 2,957,493; 3,329,287; 3,421,639; 3,606,479 and 3,382,011.